To Paris and beyond...

Whew.
Spent a lovely morning at Mont St Michel, the abbey on top of a granite island. It also was used as a prison and a fortress back in the day, but now is an abbey and a small community of monks and nuns live there, sharing their space for contemplation, work and worship with thousands of tourists a day. Jeff and I took a tour- it was beautiful!
Then we had a quick picnic on the ramparts above the water, and caught a bus to catch our trains to Paris. Took all day, but we got into Paris at night and got to see the Eiffel tower sparkling and lit up! It started sparkling just as we walked up! Our hotel was 2 blocks from the park. We found a cute cafe and enjoyed some Parisian classics, and wine from the Bordeaux region we had just come from.
The next day we walked through most pf the main part of the city. Arc de Triumph, the Louvre from a distance, alone the Seine river, and saw lots of other landmarks I don't know how to spell and don't have time to look up right now.
Then we caught our flight in the nick of time into Edinburgh, got a nice car upgrade and got acquainted with driving on the other side of the car and the road, and arrived at our hostel. Getting ready for a tour this morning of the Royal Mile. :)
Thanks again to Starbucks for free WiFi.

Munich Day 3

Woke up lateish but grabbed a train to go see the Neuschwanstein castle in Fussen. Got there and were all tired and a little cranky, but the bike shop was kind enouh to open just for us, so we rented bikes to ride up to the castle instead of being stuck standing on the bus like we had been standing on the train for the last 2 hours. Best decision ever. cleared up our bad moods! So beautiful riding on "romantic road" through the trees, seeing fall colors, over an almost turquoise blue river, seeing wedding photos being taken, catching glimpses of the castle through the trees, and hearing the tinkle of cow bells across the fields. Gorgeous.
Long ride or walk up to castle in muggy weather, all wearing jeans, finally arrived. was cool to see the castle, and James, Jeff and Michelle walked across Mary's Bridge to see caslte from.different vantage point. Climbed up high onto trail to see away from other people. Gorgeous. Grabbed some beer from the market to enjoy on train on way home, after a fun but tiring and stressful day.
On the way back, train stopped in between stops, and an announcement was made in German, and we noticed people start to get upset and frustrated. A medical incident happened ahead on the tracks so all trains were stopped until further notice. (we had worked hard to time our day to get back for our train leaving for Zurich at 630...) We all had to get off the train, and they said there would be busses. We ran to the taxi stop and asked someone if they could help.us. we were in the middle of nowhere so there was only 1 taxi, and some jerk.wanted to get to Oktoberfest so he left in it. We saw the train start moving, and RAN. Got on, for a short bit, then were told to get off again because they were sending busses. Nope. Then stood and waited. Then "herd mentality" kicked in and people tried getting on random buses. we tried to get a cab, but people kept stealing them from other people who called them. Finally, trains started moving again and we RAN again to catch one going to Munich. Whew. Definitely missed our train, but we remembered about our travel insurance that will cover cost of our hotel. Went to travel center and talked with a really nice guy who helped us find the most tolerable train out of Munich late at night that woukd allow us to get on a night train and try to get beds for a few hours...but have to.go through Salzburg on our way to Switzerland. Got to have dinner with J&A and one last German Bier before leaving Germany!
Internet has been hard to come by so hard to post pics. Writing on phone, but pics are on camera. No free WiFi other than Starbucks.